


Bento

by bookwyrmling



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M, xxxHolic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 16:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6711949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwyrmling/pseuds/bookwyrmling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryoma and Momo eat lunch together.  Much to Ryoma's appreciation, Tezuka joins them for a bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bento

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SolosOrca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolosOrca/gifts).



> Written on Tumblr in response to an Ask Meme to put Pillar Pair in a xxxHOLiC AU.
> 
> Anyway, quick explanation about this AU (maybe it’s more of a crossover?): It takes place post Tenipuri. Ryoma moved back to America with his parents, but there was a horrible accident that took them both, leaving only Ryoma alive – but   
> with the horrendous burden of having become spirit-bait due to his close brush with death. He moves back to Japan where Nanako has a place for him in her apartment. She’s busy with uni, though, so he’s on his own for taking care of himself for the most part and has been learning cooking through trial and error with a few quiet pointers from Tezuka. Ryoma ends up stumbling into the service of a woman named Yuuko, a witch with the power to grant wishes who is at least as bad as his father was with her laziness, perversions and drinking. Ryoma is working off a debt to have the spirits no longer come after him, so he can try to return to some semblance of a normal life and tennis. The whole Seigaku gang has continued on to the same high school, but due to his part-time work, Ryoma is no longer able to participate in the club. Momo helps him out sometimes in exchange for food.

“Momo-senpai, you really are a pig,” Echizen sighed as his friend – for all intents and purposes, though Echizen oftentimes doubted the term was the best fit – shoveled mouthful after mouthful of the bento he had been forced to put together this morning to make up for the shoulder sprain the second year had received while helping him defeat a pretty nasty spirit called Tenshi that Fuji had asked Yuuko-san for help with after hearing about it from his friend Saeki at Rokkaku High. Yuuko-san had shipped him off to Chiba with Momo’s help and Echizen had flashbacks of his father dropping him off at a park to help Coach Ryuuzaki’s granddaughter and friend with their tennis without so much as an explanation. In the end, Yuuko-san had been the one to appease the local guardian spirit that consumed the Tenshi as a precursor to Echizen himself, who had been hanging off the roof at the time.

Echizen took a savage bite of his own riceball, stewing in his thoughts until a shadow fell across him. “Buchou!” Momo greeted and Echizen’s head jerked up in surprise and his eyes widened in excitement. “You look to be doing well, Momoshiro, I’m glad to see it,” Tezuka greeted before turning to Echizen. “And what about you, Echizen, were you injured? No one seemed to know and a fair number of the team are worried.” “I’m fine,” Echizen’s face immediately dropped in shame, “I took away one of your regulars, though…”

“I’m just glad Momoshiro was there to catch you, Echizen,” Tezuka sighed his concern, eyes closing and brows furrowing before he reached out and placed his hand on Echizen’s head, “There’s time before the next competition and Momoshiro knows his spot is waiting for when he returns.” “Got that right,” Momoshiro called out through a mouthful of cream korokke.

Echizen snorted in disgust as food particles went flying, but Tezuka’s hand on his head sent his heart pounding and his words of concern and comfort sent his breath stuttering. He wanted Tezuka to stay right there next to him, so when that hand disappeared, he called out, “I think I finally got the tamagoyaki down!”

“That’s good,” Tezuka replied only to have a piece held out for him. Echizen stared at the food, unable to look the third-year in the eyes as he waited for Tezuka to either accept or reject the item. He breathed a sigh of relief when Tezuka plucked it from the chopsticks and felt his chest flood with warmth as he pulled his cap down to hide his grin when Tezuka wiped his hands on the grass and told him, “You have a much better handle on the dashi now and you aren’t overcooking them. Good job.”

“You still should make the sweet kind,” Momo groused as Tezuka walked off, “Didn’t you always have a sweet tooth before?”

“Yeah…” Echizen admitted, still hiding the smile he could not quite wipe off his face, but buchou doesn’t.


End file.
